Green is Gold

How Renewable Energy can save us money and generate jobs

Green can bring us gold: renewable energy can bring jobs, cost savings, and money to the Philippines.

However, in this country, ordinary citizens, business people, government workers, and even the president, have been bombarded with misinformation about renewable energy for decades.

A few examples of outright lies, often peddled by polluting industries: "Renewable energy is expensive,” or, “RE is a pie in the sky dream of treehuggers," and the most popular, "Coal is cheap."

This report is designed to fight such misleading rhetoric, debunk myths, and provide data-driven, balanced information about renewable energy in the Philippines. It lays out how renewable energy can save the government money, bring jobs to the country, create wealth, expand access to energy for the most vulnerable in poor communities, and foster national energy independence.

If the Philippines fails to grasp these economic opportunities, the failure will be recorded in history as the key turning point towards our economic decline.

Already in 2010, a whopping 42.15% of the country’s total primary energy supply came from renewable energy resources with geothermal providing the lion’s share at 22.40%, modern biomass 13.59%, hydro 6.15%, and the brand new wind and solar industry providing 0.1%.

The projected green jobs generation from 7.828 MW RE projects for development is equivalent to about 62,625 employments (direct and indirect).

The Philippines can embrace an energy revolution, turn its back on coal, seize the moment, and lead the way for renewables in Southeast Asia, capitalizing on its success in geothermal and in solar panel production.

Renewables can boost economic growth in vulnerable areas suffering from energy poverty, in a country where only 62 – 74 % of households are electrified, over 1/3 of the population lives below the poverty line, and many spend up to half of their income on kerosene.

Ever since the 1970s, in response to the Middle East oil crisis and fuel shortages, the Philippines invested heavily in geothermal and has become an undisputed global leader in geothermal energy, second only to the USA.

Over a third of the country’s total primary energy supply came from renewable energy resources with geothermal providing the lion’s share.

This does not even factor in the many thousands of rural individual “Solar Home Systems” or SHSs, micro-hydro systems and micro-wind turbine energy systems, especially in remote off-grid areas.

Moreover, the government established itself as a frontrunner in Asia with the Renewable Energy Act of 2008. This ambitious Act created a feed-in-tariff and a renewable portfolio standard for run-of-river hydro, modern biomass, wind, solar, and ocean power (but did not focus on geothermal, which is considered a mature industry in the Philippines). This law is far-reaching and tries to expand investment in renewables as well as capacity installation.

The most important recent development for renewable energy in the Philippines is the revolutionary Feed-in Tariff or “FiT.” This is a renewable energy policy offering guaranteed payments on a fixed rate per kilowatt-hour (KW-hour) for emerging renewable energy sources (not geothermal, which is considered an older, more established industry). The policy lays out priority purchase/ transmission of/payment for by grid system operators; and guarantees investments of renewables firms through fixed rates, which end-users will pay for over 20 years. Renewables are considered “must dispatch,” which means they enjoy the benefit of priority dispatch, or connection to the grid.

Investment in clean technology yields 4 times more jobs than investment in oil and yields better-paid jobs. While jobs in the fossil fuel economy were lost during the financial crisis, job growth in the green economy remained strong.

If we can realize the promise outlined in this report, the Philippines will;

generate tens of thousands of jobs

save the government money in terms of tax revenue and foreign exchange savings

lower the cost of renewable energy for the long run by impacting the spot market

save customers’ money.

Leadership

What we need from our leaders

We need visionary leadership who will help ensure energy security, energy independence and chart the path towards a sustainable future for the Philippines.

Thus, we demand that the Department of Energy take immediate action to protect the well-being of our communities by:

Immediately cancelling all new coal power projects;

Phasing out existing coal facilities and immediately comply with this department’s statutory mandate to use only energy technologies that do not sacrifice ecological concerns;

Implementing and enforcing the Renewable Energy Law; and

Increasing the country’s renewable energy targets to facilitate a massive uptake of clean sustainable energy in the country

RE technology could help reduce power rates in the Philippines, the highest in Asia. Greenpeace believes that one of the reasons why renewable energy may not be taking off faster in the Philippines is the prevalence of misconceptions that seek to discredit cleaner electricity sources that benefits the many, in order to keep the coal industry profitable for a select few. Green is Gold therefore debunks these misconceptions, maintaining that coal is not cheap, because it brings in additional costs in terms of pollution, reduced agriculture and fishing yields, and damage to health. Every coal plant constructed also means less space for RE investments, and therefore less government savings and less green jobs.